How does 3DWatch get a list of dial-up entries?

[ILAN]

Hello there,

I'm having some trouble getting 3DWatch to dial out.  

The dial up entries in 3DWatch seem to change.  Firstly, sometimes there is an entry there called "The Internet (1)" - I'm not sure how that got there since there has never been a dial up entry on our server by that name.  Now 3DWatch displays some previsouly used dial-up entries that have actually been deleted from the "Network Connections page" in Windows2003 Server.

It seems that 3DWatch will dial out correctly only if I select a dial-up entry that is currently active (already connected).

How can I refresh this list, and make sure that it doeesn't change?

Thanks in advance.
Ilan

[Thomas]

Hi Ilan,

3DWatch uses exactly the entries that it finds on the computer it is running on. It doesn't change these entries nor does it add any new ones.

If previously used entries appear in the list, they are still available. Some older OS (like Windows 98 and ME) sometimes didn't remove deleted entries correctly. Maybe that's a reason. In these cases the general suggestion in the corresponding NGs was to remove and reinstall DUN completely.

"The Internet (1)" looks like a connection that is silently installed by proprietary dial in software like the AOL client. These connections cannot be used otherwise.

You cannot prevent the list itself from changing if the installed connections change, but only the one that is marked is used. If you want to use a connection to dial out, you should store user name and password inside 3DWatch. If you have a permanent connection it is not necessary to use 3DWatch's dial out functions at all.

I hope this helps. If not, please add another message to this topic. It may be wise to add some more infos like OS, type of connection etc.

Have a nice day!

Thomas

[ILAN]

Dear Thomas,

I have made some progress in troubleshooting my dial-out error!

I must just summarise my problem thus far:

Setup
-OS : MS Small Business Server 2003, all service packs/patches/updates applied.  Using the SBS Server as a Domain Controller, Firewall, Cache/Proxy etc.
-Internet Connection : A Wireless broadband modem, connected directly to server's USB port and accompanying dial-up internet account.  The ISP is called Sentech.
-3DWatch version 2.4.306

-I have ONE dial-up entry called 'sentech' which is listed under Windows' Network Connections, Dial-Up.

Now the problem:
Scenario 1-
I go into Network Connections, Dial-Up, and connect to 'sentech', which connects no problem - then fire up 3DWatch (start the service).  In 3DWatch, under Dial up Netw. clicking the Phonebook entry drop down box shows 'sentech' and nothing else which is correct.  I can now disconnect 'sentech' from within Network Connections, Dial-Up. Now if I DON'T close 3DWatch (stop service) I can re-connect to 'sentech' using 3DWatch's Dial button, and it dials out no problem.

BUT

Scenario 2-
If I don't manually connect 'sentech' from Windows' Network Connections, Dial-Up - but rather fire up 3DWatch right away, then clicking in the Phonebook entry shows sentech, Sentech MyWireless (created and deleted a while ago), The Internet(1).  The last two entries are bogus, since they don't appear in Windows' Network Connections, Dial-Up.

Now if I try and connect to 'sentech' using 3DWatch's Dial command, there is some modem activity, but the connection fails every time.  Some of the errors I got were listed in my other dial out errors article (Thu Jul 22, 2004 4:18 pm : Dial out problems etc.)

So I went on a search to try and find these dial-up entries called 'Sentech MyWireless' and The Internet(1).

I couldn't find them in the registry, but I did find them in a folder called:

C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk


Inside a file called rasphone.pbk

If I deleted the rasphone.pbk, then started up 3DWatch, the Phonebook entry list is empty.  Close 3DWatch and open it again. 3DWatch creates a new rasphone.pbk file in the directory, and now the Phonebook entry list has an item called "The Internet(1)".

Basically, what I have discovered, is that even though 'sentech' may be in the Phonebook entry list, everytime 3DWatch is run, it (3DWatch) is editing this rasphone.pbk file, and, unless 'sentech' is manually connected from Windows, this is somehow "corrupting" the 'sentech' entry that 3DWatch sees.

To prove the problem, I followed these steps:
1. Shut down 3DWatch.
2. I delete C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk\rasphone.pbk, and create a new blank text file, and rename it to rasphone.pbk.  Then double click on it, which allows me to create a dial-up entry, call it 'sentech', and give it all the appropriate settings.  NOW the trick - make this rasphone.pbk READ-ONLY.  i.e. now 3DWatch cannot modify it.
3. Fire up 3DWatch, and voila! only one item in the Phonebook entry list, 'sentech'.  Try and connect using 3DWatch's Dial button, and it connects flawlessly every time!
NOTE: 3DWatch reports an error every time it dials saying that "It cannot modify the phonebook entry" - which is 100% correct since the file is read-only.  This error doesn't seem to affect the connection though.

ALSO, VERY N.B.
There are now TWO 'sentech' connections on the server. One is in Windows' Network Connections, Dial-Up which is actually stored in the registry.  The other 'sentech' is in the C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk\rasphone.pbk
file - and it is very important to realise that these are separate connections.

Please see my article reply to (Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:58 pm - "No answer from remote host" - error) to see why this difference is now so important.
Anyway Thomas, that's it on this issue.  I hope I have found the problem, and even if this isn't a 3DWatch problem, and its just my setup that is to blame, at least its working!

Thanks for all your help so far.

Ciao
ILAN

P.S. If somehow 'The Internet(1)" has magically appeared in the rasphone.pbk file before you made it read-only, you can edit the file in any text editor and just remove all items belonging to 'The Internet(1)' - and then lock it.

[Thomas]

Hi ILAN,

Thank you very much for this long review. With your explanations I found out that Windows itself seems to change the Phonebook sometimes without 3DWatch's intention.

It looks as if the written entry normally corresponds exactly to the one used for dialing out. This is probably the reason that nobody takes notice of this (it simply seems to re-write the original entry).

It would be interesting to find out what the difference is in your case. I guess: Could it be that 3DWatch is running with insufficient write access rights to the phonebook (maybe even to this special entry), resulting in the automatic creation of a new entry in a new phonebook file?

I'm currently working on a new version of 3DWatch. If you are interested, you could beta test this. Just let me know.

Thank you very much again!

Regards

Thomas

[Gareth]

I may be able to shed some light here. I have recently acquired 3Dwatch and have noticed that when run the program creates the following -

C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk\rasphone.pbk

I have Windows XP running in English NOT German and the rasphone.pbk exists in the following directory

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Connections\Pbk\rasphone.pbk

Therefore the new phone book will always be empty on PC's that use English. A quick work around would be to change the 'German' rasphone.pbk to be a shortcut of the 'English' rasphone.pbk since the program is obviously looking at a directory that normally doesnt exist in English versions.

I hope you can resolve this with a future version of the application, it would be nice to have the program looking in the right folder for us English speakers  :wink:

[Thomas]

Thank you very much for this advice, Gareth!

I'll have a look on this and hope to have a solution very soon.

Have a nice day!

Thomas

[Thomas]

Well, I applied some changes to 3DWatch. If someone would like to test the changed version, please let me know!

Have a nice weekend!

Thomas